Seal Beach salon shootings trial set for March

Aug. 10, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 12:28 p.m.

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Scott Dekraai is led into the courtroom for his pre-trial hearing before Judge Thomas M. Goethals in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, January 27, 2012. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Scott Dekraai settles into his chair after being led into the courtroom for his pre-trial hearing before Judge Thomas M. Goethals in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, , January 27, 2012. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Scott Dekraai watches as his defense attorney Scott Sanders works out a pre-trial hearing date before Judge Thomas M. Goethals in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, , January 27, 2012. KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Shortly after the shootings at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach, Scott Dekraai, who had weapons strewn across the floorboard of his white truck and guns strapped to his body, was arrested without incident half a mile from the scene, police and witnesses said. FILE: ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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This photo combo shows the people who were killed during a shooting at a salon at Seal Beach, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2011. On the top row, from left, are Michelle Fournier, Michele Fast, David Caouette and Christy Lynn Wilson. On bottom row, from left are Laura Lee Elody, Lucia Bernice Kondas, Victoria Ann Buzzo and Randy Lee Fannin. AP

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A mourner wipes away tears in front of the memorial at Salon Meritage in this October 14, 2011 file photo. FILE: BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Scott Dekraai is led into the courtroom for his pre-trial hearing before Judge Thomas M. Goethals in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, January 27, 2012.KEN STEINHARDT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SANTA ANA – The jury trial date for the Huntington Beach man charged in the deadliest shooting in Orange County – the slayings of eight people at a Seal Beach beauty salon last October – was pushed back Friday to March 2013, and the judge acknowledged that it could be delayed even further.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals said he hopes to get the death-penalty trial for Scott Evans Dekraai, 42, under way sometime in 2013, even though defense attorneys said that because of the complexities of the case they likely will not be ready to proceed.

Deputy Public Defender Scott Sanders said the defense team is working full-time analyzing more than 10,500 pages of prosecution discovery to prepare for a defense focused primarily on the penalty phase. But Sanders said it is one of the most complicated, involved cases he had ever seen and even if defense attorneys work on the case 24 hours a day, they cannot be ready by spring 2013.

Assistant District Attorney Dan Wagner announced during the brief hearing that the prosecution "is ready to try this case. ... We want to go forward as soon as possible."

Dekraai, who is being held without bail, appeared in a mustard-yellow jail jumpsuit for the short appearance Friday on the 11th floor of the courthouse and agreed to the trial delay. He did not look at more than two dozen friends and relatives of the slaying victims who sat a few feet away in the courtroom gallery.

Seal Beach police say Dekraai walked into Salon Meritage on the afternoon of Oct. 12, 2011, and almost immediately shot stylist Michelle Fournier, 47, his ex-wife, after arguing with her earlier on the phone over child custody. He then shot Christy Lynn Wilson, 47, Fournier's friend and colleague, and salon owner Randy Fannin, 61, according to police.

Witnesses said he then started shooting others at random, killing Victoria Ann Buzzo, 54; Lucia Bernice Kondas, 65; Laura Lee Webb Elody, 46; and Michele Fast, 47. Victim Harriet Stretz, 73, was shot and wounded. The last to die was David Caouette, 64, who was shot while sitting in his vehicle in the parking lot outside the salon.

A Seal Beach patrol officer arrested Dekraai a few blocks from the carnage. "I know what I did," Dekraai told the officer, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Dekraai, a former tugboat crewman, was indicted on eight-counts of special circumstances murder in January, and has pleaded not guilty.

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